“Google’s much-anticipated iOS Maps application is out today and the early accounts are that it’s awesome,” Matthew Yglesias writes for Slate.

“I haven’t had time to play around with it properly, but I hope people will undrstand that if its as good as it sounds that’s really a vindication of Apple’s business strategy in launching its own Maps product,” Yglesias writes. “Recall that the problem with the old Maps wasn’t that it wasn’t as good as the new Maps. The problem is that it was distinctly inferior to Google Maps for Android. And that wasn’t a coincidence… While Google wants to promote Android, Google also doesn’t want to lose the vast customer base that is iPhone and iPad map users. So they’ve responded by writing a Google Maps program that’s much better than the old Google Maps—one that feature vector graphics and spoken directions and Google’s superior mapping data.”

Yglesias writes, “So pride aside, from Apple’s viewpoint this is a win. Apple’s not in the maps business, they’re in the device and platform business. Their problem as of a year ago is that their platform didn’t have a great maps program. Now it does. Mission accomplished.”

Naturally now Eric Schmidt and his evil ilk want to show up Apple as much as possible whereas Apple would have probably taken more time with Apple Maps if Google had kept their Maps on par with the Android and iOS version. So NOW they deliver the Maps program for iOS they should have before. These Google guys are schizophrenic!

Googles map is still wrong, the Marytr’s Shrine is not in downtown Midland Ontario Canada. In all this time they never fix the problem. We still get tourist coming downtown ask where the Martyr’s shrine, it funny till it get annoying.

If it’s satire then it might be OK. If not, stupid is to kind. Apple was clearly trying to shake off Google and get control over the vast map web traffic and hurt Google’s revenues in doing so.
And Apple failed. Well not only failed. The fell flat on their faces and screwed up bad. Replacing a not so great map app with a map app that sends people 50 miles in the wrong direction can’t be a strategy other than for suicidal companies.
And it can hardly be a strategy that in any case what so ever can be vindicated by Apple having to let “evil-Google” back in to Ios units.
Apple tried, screwed up, lost face, had to apologize publicly, lost face, had to let Google back in and lost face again. Yes Google’s new map app is better now compared to what it used to be. But at what cost?

I agree with you Rata. Google maps invariably had me going wrong way by miles, until I figured something was wrong. Fortunately I had Navigon also on my phone and was able to get back on track. Apple Maps has steadily improved and I will continue to rely on it.

Give it a fucking rest. Like practically every Apple linkbait controversy, the reality doesn’t reflect the contorted histrionics of the tech press. Apple Maps had bad data and that data wasn’t supplied by Apple. The app didn’t murder kids, it didn’t start a genocidal war, it wasn’t even unstable or unusable. And we’ll just ignore the ongoing problems with Google maps, but hey, they had a seven year head start so let’s all pretend Google’s data is perfect because one can’t get enough web hits with a reasonable article explaining all the fact. The only thing that gets traffic is hyperbole.

The idiotic whining about Maps is going to outlive the actual problem by 10 years. Just like the assholes who still need to bring up the Lisa or the puck mouse years after they were no longer relevant, the simpletons will mindlessly repeat the Maps “tragedy” years after the data is corrected.

+1
And… I’m not convinced that the errors found in the database are all that unusual amoung all the mapping databases. I have encountered serious errors in Google maps and Garmin’s data (GPS unit).
It seems it was just “the fatal flaw” that the blogosphere always goes on and on about ever time Apple has a major release. Just like antenna gate (which also occurs on every phone) It was much ado about nothing. The iPhone 4 is and was fine, all they wanted to do was to put doubt in the minds of buyers to attempt stem the tsunami of sales. And just like the iPhone 4 real buyers (as apposed to apple hating trolls) didn’t have a problem with the antenna or the map app and both devices were backordered for months on end.

Is the maps database perfect? No. But that is the nature of the beast (I haven’t encountered a map database without errors yet)